'We're all very excited about the future' - Shadwell to the fore at Keeneland

Stepping forward to purchase a trio of blue-blooded fillies from Book 1 of Keeneland’s September yearling sale in Kentucky, Shadwell Farm made a strong statement that the breeding and racing operation founded by the late Hamdan Al Maktoum will forge ahead with fresh horsepower under his daughter Sheikha Hissa.

“Definitely so,” declared Jonny Smyth, co-manager of the Lexington farm that is the base of the American branch of Shadwell, owner and breeder of the mighty Baaeed.

“These are the first three horses that were bought for Sheikha Hissa and she was very involved, and she was very happy with these. So hopefully there is a bright future ahead.”

Although Smyth noted that set budgets were strictly followed during the sale in adherence to Shadwell’s plan to scale back from the heights of its founder, the three fillies bought on Monday and Tuesday would appeal to any top-flight programme. Shadwell paid a total of $2.1 million for them.

Leading the group was a $750,000 daughter of the successful young Tapit stallion Constitution. Not only is the distinctively marked bay filly a half-sister to this year’s Preakness Stakes winner Early Voting, her Tiznow dam Amour D’Ete is a half-sister to US champion and top sire Speightstown.

Grade 1 winners Capezzano and Turk Passer also feature on the catalogue page of the Constitution filly, who was bred by Three Chimneys Farm and consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency.

Also purchased on Shadwell’s account was a $650,000 half-sister to 2021 American Horse of the Year Knicks Go, a grey filly by Ghostzapper consigned by Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services that Smyth said is “a spitting image” of her famous sibling. Knicks Go won five Grade 1 races including the 2021 Breeders' Cup Classic and banked more than $7.7m.

The other Shadwell Book 1 purchase was a $700,000 daughter of Medaglia D’Oro and the Grade 1-winning Smart Strike mare Centre Court, making her a full-sister to Grade 3 winner Navratilova.

The extended female family of this filly, from the Lane’s End consignment, yielded British and French champion sprinter Ajdal and Japanese champions Dance In The Dark and Dance In The Mood.

“The fillies are back on the [Shadwell] farm at the moment,” Smyth said of the new acquisitions. “We’ll speak with Sheikha Hissa this week and make a decision on which trainers she would like to allocate them to, and then we’ll go on to the naming process.

“We were looking for some nice fillies with residual value and good pedigrees. We had a budget that we wanted to stay within and we did a good job,” he added, noting the robust strength at the top of the market did not make the task easy. “We were fortunate to get these nice physicals and good pedigrees.”

Smyth said the purchases were partly inspired by the success of Shadwell’s 2021 American champion three-year-old filly Malathaat, a daughter of Curlin acquired at the 2019 September sale for $1,050,000 by the farm’s former general manager, the now retired Rick Nichols, on behalf of Sheikh Hamdan.

Sheikha Hissa: hugely passionate about racing and bloodstock either side of the AtlanticCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

“One hundred per cent,” said Smyth, who described Malathaat’s next goals as the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland on October 9 and then, if all is well, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at the same track on November 5 before possibly retiring to Shadwell’s broodmare band.

“That will come down to being Sheikha Hissa’s decision, but I believe so,” he said of the four-year-old who has won four Grade 1s, including the Kentucky Oaks, and eight of her 12 starts to date while earning $2,378,825.

Although also much reduced from previous levels, Shadwell does have a group of 24 homebred yearlings that will be placed in training in the US along with the three sale purchases.

“We’re all very excited about the future, and Sheikha Hissa has a large passion for this," said Smyth. "She’s been very successful with Baaeed over in Europe and Malathaat over here. It’s been a great start.”

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